Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko had a laugh when McLaren told Lando Norris to attack the dominant Max Verstappen during the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion won from second on the grid after overtaking poleman Norris at Turn 1, as the McLaren driver went wide having defended the inside too aggressively.
George Russell also overtook Norris at race start and then applied pressure on Verstappen, who withstood the attack from the Mercedes driver before the Briton pitted on lap 17.
Norris was next of the frontrunners to pit on lap 22, with Verstappen waiting until the 25th tour for a new set of tyres; the top three remained as it was following the pitstops.
But Norris gathered pace in his next stint, which led to him overtaking Russell with 16 laps remaining, before being told “we’re going to get Max” who was leading by a few seconds.
Verstappen was thus informed of McLaren’s radio message and responded by setting the fastest lap, quickly increasing his advantage over Norris to finish 20.7s ahead.
Although much of that advantage was down to the championship leader saving fuel across the final laps, Marko was still left amazed by Verstappen’s response, claiming he was in full control.
“He was able to easily maintain the pace of those behind him and therefore save the tyres,” Marko told Sky Sports Germany. “We also stayed out longer than everyone else.
“Of course, we knew the condition of the competitors’ tyres and the funniest thing was the message that came from McLaren: ‘Attack Max, overtake him.’ And then he hammered in one fastest lap after another, just to make things clear.
“But he did it with such confidence and ease. We had no problems at all. Lando had some issues at the end, because he was two or three seconds slower. Unfortunately, there was no one there who could capitalise on that.
“But from the first lap... I wouldn’t say [Max] won the start. He won the first corner and practically forced Norris into the mistake.”
In his interview with written media, Marko then stated that it was “an unbelievable Max Verstappen show”, and Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies was equally in awe of his driver.
“I think he had probably even more pace than what we have seen in the car,” said Mekies. “There was a couple of times in the second stint where we asked him to increase the pace when Lando was pushing, and every time it was necessary, he increased the pace.
“So I think all together it was masterclass from him, no question. On the race weekend, nobody had the proper preparations because the practice sessions were all disturbed by something or something else.
“To be that strong on Sunday, tyre degradation, execution, race pace, I think it's a big well done to Max for nailing it again.”
Vegas was Verstappen’s sixth victory of the 2025 season, and because of McLaren’s post-race double disqualification, the Dutchman is 24 points behind championship leader Norris with two rounds remaining.
He is also level on points with Piastri in second, which is a remarkable achievement considering how superior McLaren was at the start of the season.
But Monza upgrades in September caused a Red Bull resurgence, and with four victories in the last seven grands prix, Verstappen remains in the title fight with Qatar and Abu Dhabi left to run.
“In terms of driving and what he does, I think he's as good or better than everything we have seen,” said Mekies.
“There are many, many examples this year. Now we know we have suffered in the first part of the season. The guys have been doing an amazing job in managing to turn around the car.
“And now that he's able to fight again for the win, he does masterclass after masterclass, so that's what it is.
“We do what we always said we were doing: we take it race by race. A win is a win. It's easy to forget how difficult it is to win. You need to get everything right, and that's how we look at it.
“We look at every single race. You cannot imagine a more different situation in Qatar compared to Vegas. Now everything is the opposite of Vegas, so we will reset and try to nail the weekend again.”
Additional reporting by Ronald Vording and Filip Cleeren
Read and post comments